Are you SAS Savvy?

Last week at Insurance and Finance User’s Group (IFSUG), I caught up with Sunil Gupta, a SAS Press author and a SAS expert. He was chairing one of the sections and presenting some information himself, which Angela Hall and Waynette Tubbs discussed in their blogs. However, Sunil is a busy man – the week before he was teaching a class about getting the most from PROC TABULATE in a live lecture from his SAS Savvy site.

Touring SAS Savvy

If you are just learning BASE SAS or SAS Enterprise Guide, then SAS Savvy should be a part of your weekly rotation. This site is a well-organized collection of original material and thoughtful links to other SAS resources. In addition, each month, Sunil hosts a live SAS Training session, giving you direct access to a leading SAS expert!

Frequently Updated Savvy Content

For the training sessions, Sunil uses a desktop sharing program and a voice conference. For the PROC TABULATE class, two others joined the session, so it was easy to ask questions and not feel like you were getting lost in the crowd. Sunil commented that after learning PROC TABULATE, he had stopped using PROC FREQ and PROC MEANS because he could accomplish those tasks and more with the procedure. [I agree! Here’s an stored process example using PROC Tabulate.]

In the first part of the course, Sunil gave a quick tour of the site structure and then he demonstrated the search feature, which indexes the built-in content and over 600 links. What’s nice about the site is upon logging in, you can see a list of new links. For example, there’s a new Clinical Trials Certification Exam, a new Pharma Industry Clinical Study Analysis/Process Flow, a new SAS Log Error Checking Tool, a new article on Macros called “Defensive Programming”, some new Utility Macros to validate data, new SAS/GRAPH Dashboard Examples, and an updated SAS Tip Sheet. Whew!

Mind Mapping the Site Structure – Unique TOC!

An interesting way that SASsavvy is organized is that the topics are divided between Data Management (Data Step and Functions), Analytical Analysis (Enterprise Guide, ODS Statistics, Statistical Analysis), and Advanced Programming (Macros and Dictionary Tables). If you navigate into one of these areas, you can see more details on the subject. Each major subject has its own section, which is indexed graphically. For example, the Enterprise Guide page has a nice diagram with boxes leading off into Examples, Tutorial Videos, various papers, fact sheets, and forums. Generally, all the major topics are organized using this method.

Use the Gallery for Code Examples

As the subject of this particular course was PROC TABULATE, this is where we focused for our remaining time. A useful feature in this section is the PROC TABULATE Gallery. The Gallery shows over a dozen table layout examples produced by PROC TABULATE. If you are trying to code a table layout, you can browse through the various output examples to select the one that most closely matches your case. From there you can click a “SAS Code” link to get the code used to create it. None of these layouts needs any customization – you can do them all with PROC TABULATE and the code provided.

Finally, we spent some time looking through the PROC TABULATE e-guide. A variety of these specialized e-guides is available on the site. The Proc Tab e-guide is about 30-pages long and growing. This is where Sunil shows his book writing skills as he starts the e-guide off with a diagrammatical approach to constructing a Proc Tab program. The e-guide goes through the considerations and planning to define the key dimensions and options for creating any diverse output. This type of tool is a real time saver and a great educational resource.

Your Turn to Visit SAS Savvy

When I find neat resources, I like to share them with you. This is not a paid link – it’s just a good resource. Sunil has a unique ability to break down complex ideas into simple, quickly understandable concepts. He’s one of my SAS Heros! You can become a member of the SAS Savvy site – there are three membership plans. Sign up for a money back guarantee on your first month basic or premium membership – visit SAS Savvy now to sign up for a membership.

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Tricia Aanderud is a SAS Business Intelligence and Visual Analytics consultant based in Raleigh, NC who works for Zencos Consulting. She has written several books about SAS, presented papers at many SAS conferences, and has been using SAS since 2001. Contact her for assistance with your next project.